1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing technology. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method that processes image data output from an image sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
As technology has developed and new functions have become available, the market for portable terminals has grown rapidly. That is, the new functions provided on portable terminals are stimulating consumers' purchasing appetite. In recent years, portable terminals have been provided with a variety of application programs to comply with users' requirements and to provide users with various additional services. For example, portable terminals include functions allowing use of voice information, text information, image information, as well as an MP3 player function, a game service, etc. In particular, portable terminals including an image sensor for capturing images of subjects have gradually been developed and adopted by users.
Conventional portable terminals having an image sensor process image data, output from the image sensor, based on an entire frame, i.e., each screen. Therefore, they require a large buffer memory and take a long time to process the image data. For example, when an image sensor has a size of 1.3 mega pixels, the buffer memory requires a size of 2.3 MB in order to buffer the image data. When an image sensor has a size of 5 mega pixels, the buffer memory requires a size of 9.3 MB to buffer the image data. Accordingly, the conventional image processing of an entire frame requires a large memory capacity for buffering and takes a long time to complete, both of which are an inconvenience for the user.